Star backlash begins: Studio demands Tom Cruise take a pay cut
Under pressure ... Tom in M:I3 Source: no credit
SUPERSTAR Tom Cruise has joined the ranks of the unemployed.
The Hollywood studio that bankrolls his films is not backing any more Cruise movies until he agrees to a significant pay cut.
The 44-year-old actor is eager to get back to work to put behind him disappointments such as Mission: Impossible III, but last week his 13-year deal with the Paramount studio was allowed to lapse. Executives say Cruise faces a "financial adjustment and reality check" before he can continue his illustrious career.
Cruise is not the only star to suffer as Hollywood bosses cut jobs and get tough with expensive talent. Jim Carrey, Mike Myers and Reese Witherspoon are all "on holiday" with no immediate films in prospect, while Brad Pitt recently took a pay cut to play Jesse James.
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Last week, soon after the arrest of Mel Gibson for drink-driving, the studio crackdown reached younger actors such as Lindsay Lohan. The 20-year-old was publicly censured by her employers for refusing to put her work above her social life. her mother said it was an "ungallant" attack on her daughter, who was just a "good girl enjoying herself".
Studio executives are increasingly frustrated by hit films that leave them impoverished because the stars, as well as directors such as Steven Spielberg, grab most of the profits.
Cruise has become a symbol of the battle for power between studios and their stars, a struggle that dates back to 1919 when Charlie Chaplin set up his own studio, United Artists, to keep most of the profits from his silent comedies for himself.
Studios are feeling more bullish because many northern summer hits, from Cars to Superman Returns, have been driven by strong scripts and computer effects rather than celebrities.
Yet, by all standards, Cruise is a special case. for 20 years, the diminutive star has earned the studios billions of dollars in films such as Top Gun and The Firm. Last year, according to Forbes magazine, he earned $87 million from War of the Worlds, still a Hollywood record.
Since 1992 Paramount has paid Cruise-Wagner Productions, Cruise's private film development company, up to $17.5 million a year to base its office on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles. it also paid for 10 staff. in return, Paramount gets the first bite at any Cruise film. Paramount has now refused to renew the deal on its current terms, effectively suspending its work on half a dozen future Cruise films.
Cruise, whose fortune is conservatively estimated at $624 million, is meanwhile paying staff out of his own pocket and remains confident that it will soon be "business as usual" at Cruise-Wagner Productions.
But the abrupt demise of the current deal remains an embarrassing psychological blow after a turbulent year for "the Cruiser". Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has been battling to hold on to public affections since he decided to shed Pat Kingsley, his long-term publicity adviser who for years shielded him from controversy.
Kingsley would never have allowed him to appear on Oprah Winfrey's show and jump on the couch while declaring his love for young actor Katie Holmes.
That did not affect his popularity as much as criticising actor Brooke Shields for using prescription drugs for postnatal depression: as a Scientologist, he disapproves of all psychological drugs.
"At that moment he moved from the realm of eccentricity to something scary and cruel," said Martin Kaplan of the Norman Lear Centre, which studies how films affect society. "It was easier to forgive jokes about eating placenta than what is perceived to be an attack on a vulnerable woman's real problem."
Hollywood studios are influenced by Q Scores, an annual poll of a celebrity's likeability. in the last poll, the percentage of Americans who liked Cruise fell from 30 two years ago to 19, while people who disliked him jumped from 14 to 31. The next Q Score, due to be released confidentially to the studios next month, is expected to be even worse.
Henry Schaffer, of Marketing Evaluations, which carries out the Q Score polls, said Cruise had suffered in particular with young women, especially compared with more low-profile stars such as Tom Hanks. "The two Toms used to be neck and neck at the top of the Hollywood tree, but the more flamboyant Tom is in danger of crash and burn," he said.
Schaffer said Gibson, who is facing drink-driving charges and more intangible damage related to his anti-Jewish outburst when he was arrested in Malibu on July 28, had recently been recovering in public esteem from the extremely divisive release of his last film, The Passion of the Christ.
"This could be a big blow," said Schaffer. he added that before Gibson's forthcoming court appearance he should "do a Hugh Grant": go on US television and apologise directly and with a light touch.
Cruise is a tougher problem, say Hollywood spin doctors. One former public relations adviser to the actor said Cruise had two options: defensive or aggressive.
First, he should cultivate a quieter lifestyle. "He should come across as humble, not judgmental, even if it is the best acting he has ever done - because inside he is still a cocky boy, but the times have changed," said the former aide.
Then, when the time is right, he should make a positive splash with his baby daughter Suri and her mother, Holmes, who is 27.
While Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt demanded a $5.5 million charity donation from People magazine for the first shots of their offspring, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, Suri has been invisible except to a close circle that includes Penelope Cruz, Cruise's ex-girlfriend. although Madame Tussaud's is already showing a waxen effigy of a bundled Suri in New York, the public is impatient to see the real baby, born in April.
US tabloid magazines are offering up to $7.5 million for the first snap. Insiders suggest that any baby pictures might be wrapped up into a wedding celebration for Cruise and his girlfriend.
This is not expected to happen until Cruise has sorted out his employment prospects. although he could produce films independently or offer himself as an actor for hire, pride is at stake and he is unlikely to get as good a deal as he had with Paramount.
It may depend on what films he wants to make. One studio executive joked: "He can get all his perks back when he agrees to make Top Gun 2, in a jet, wearing an oxygen mask. Tom Cruise will have to finally shut up when he is saving the world."
The Sunday Times, London
